Brooklyn here we come - Trip Report Part 4

As is my custom now, here are the links to the first 3 trip reports:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k367612-鈥?/a>

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k369908-鈥?/a>

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k373098-鈥?/a>

My last full day in New York coming up.

Monday 28th November

As the title says our plan today was to go to Brooklyn. First we toyed with the idea of going to the Empire State Building but as it was now 10 am, thought the queues might be too long so decided to leave that till the evening.

Just for a change we thought it would be an idea to walk down to the Brooklyn Bridge as we felt we hadn%26#39;t walked enough :). Anyway we set off down Park Avenue just soaking up the atmosphere of New York. Got to Union square and noticed on a building that there was a digital display apparently counting down to something. What it was counting down to I have no idea. Carried on down Fourth Avenue and then the Bowery into Chinatown.

Finally saw the Brooklyn bridge and headed down St James Place in the hope there might be steps up onto the bridge. There isn%26#39;t. So we followed the bridgr back to City Hall where we found the pedestrian path onto the bridge. For those who haven%26#39;t walked over the brdige yet, you walk down the middle of the bridge so you don%26#39;t have to worry about which side is best. Took our time crossing to look back at the views and read the displays about the bridge.

Made it to the other side and found the path splits. We decided to take the left path, which turned out to be correct one as you can get to Brooklyn Heights from here. Made our way down to the river for views of Manhattan and the Bridge and saw Grimaldis and the River Cafe although we didn%26#39;t go into either of these this time. The funny thing ws that there was about 4 Asian couples down there having their wedding photos taken and even more turning up. Must have been a good day to get married.

Wandered around Brooklyn for a while and admired the view of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Stopped of at the New Plymouth cafe for a coffee and enjoyed the scene outside as a double parked lorry caused all the traffic to stop. One bloke decided to double park whilst he went into a shop (although traffic could still get by). He came back to find a traffic warden giving him a ticket. Couldn%26#39;t hear what he was saying but it was a laugh looking at his hand gestures as he explained to her that the bigger problem was down the road where the lorry was double parked. She wandered off to investigate and we wandered back to the Brooklyn Bridge to head back to Manhattan.

Just as we got onto the Bridge, my friend stopped to take a photo of the ESB from the bridge. A police car was parked in a lay by and the police woman set her siren off. Thought nothing of it until we realised it was us she was attempting to talk to. For some reason she didn%26#39;t want us to take photos. The only thing we could think of was that we were standing in the cycling lane !!! Undeterred, we carried on and made sure we took photos from the pedestrian lane.

Back in manhattan, we explored around the financial district and admired the art deco buildings. They were putting the Christmas tree and decorations up in City Hall Park. Headed down Broadway to see Wall Street and Trinity Church. Walked down Wall Street and stopped for a hot dog (well when in Rome and all that). Made our way over to the South Street Seaport for some great views of the brooklyn bridge. You can get a photo of all 3 bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg) from here.

By now it was about 3.30 and it was time for a rest so stopped off at the Heartland Brewery pub on Fulton St for a drink. Nice area here and it looks like it has been done up in recent years. After this, we went to the Full Shilling pub on Pearl Street for another drink where we stayed a bit longer than we intended. Got talking to a couple of the locals, watched some football (that%26#39;s soccer to you) on TV and even found out that the barmaid had a friend who lived in the same area of London as I did and I knew the street.

By the time we left here it was 8 pm and there was no way we were going to walk back or go to the ESB. Luckily for us, there was taxi passing right by as we came out so we got that up to Time Square to see that at night for one last time. Plus I hadn%26#39;t taken any photos of Time Square at night. Popped into the Hard Rock cafe as it is a bit of a tradition to eat in HRCs where ever there is one. Funny thing is that I%26#39;ve never been to the one in London.

After what seemd like a very long day, we walked back to the Grand Hyatt taking photos of the Grand Central Station and the Chrysler building all lit up at night.

And that was our last full day in NYC althoguh we would still have 5 hours o Tuesday before we had to leave for the airport but more about that in the next installment. As I%26#39;m away for the weekend, you shall have to wait until next week for that.

Brooklyn here we come - Trip Report Part 4

I get exhausted just reading your reports!

Brooklyn here we come - Trip Report Part 4

You beat me to it Ken..I was thinking exactly the same. They are great!

Mick - can%26#39;t wait for the final instalment. I%26#39;m loving every minute of reading your reports. Glad that the walking tours continued but sidetracked watching soccer? Priorities Mick priorities!!!

lol

If you think it%26#39;s exhausting reading them try typing them LOL.

Helen, to be truthful it wasn%26#39;t the soccer that sidetracked us. The beer in the pub had already done that well before the soccer came on LOL. The soccer was a welcome bonus as it was English football and we didn%26#39;t know what the weekend football results were.

Here is some info on that ';clock';

How to read the clock 鈥?the Metronome -- on the art wall at 1 Union Square South? The 15 numbers of the digital clock display time going and coming relative to midnight. Read time going left to right and time coming in the opposite direction. So, if the clock reads 070437000235616 it means that it is 7:04 A.M. (7 hours and 04 minutes since midnight) and that there are 16 hours, 56 minutes and 23 seconds remaining until midnight. The three numbers in between are a blur of moving numbers. For more information, go to www.metronome.related.com

Also, many couples take picture at that location in Brooklyn, you see couples there all of the time.

I agree, exhausted just reading your great reports. Sound great.

Excellent! Glad you got a glimpse of real NYC street traffic altercation, and a true ';dirty water dog'; in the same day.

Hope you found a good podiatrist back home!

NYCGirl, you beat me to it!

Mick, great report. It is exhausting but quite entertaining, I love your description of the traffic cop%26#39;s ';conversation'; with the lorry driver. I can just imagine what they were saying!

Thanks for the explanation NYCGirl. I shall pay more attention to it next time.

Hopefully I%26#39;ll get round to the final report this week but I%26#39;m sure you all know what the last week before Christmas is like. People to see, pubs to be visited, drinks to be drunk, hangovers to be cured and of course the little matter of Christmas shopping.

Mick,

Just back from the office Christmas lunch - French restaurant overlooking our beautiful bay - sun shining, birds singing etc.

I know exactly what you mean about the Christmas season.

If you don%26#39;t get it done before Christmas, I%26#39;ll just have to wait until the office reopens on 3rd January 2006 (unless I call in over the break).

Have a great Christmas/New Year break and eat and drink plenty.

Helen